Software giant Microsoft’s history with smartphones is well known. After witnessing the growth in Android and iOS, Redmond also tried to get its share of the pie. But, so far, it’s had little luck. The company failure with the Lumia lineup and successive writing off of Nokia, is public knowledge. But, since Satya Nadella’s took over, Redmond’s taken a much improved direction with hardware. Its Surface Pro and Surface Book lineup are amazing devices, which offer an excellent combination of aesthetics, usability and performance. However, Microsoft’s still hesitant to venture into smartphones. The Surface Phone is a much rumored device which might see the light of day next year. Today, we’ve got more alleged information. Take a look below to find out more.

Just a couple of days back, we got our hands on a Microsoft patent. It related to a fold-able device, using two different concepts. One of these involved a magnet and the other a mechanical latch. Both allowed the usage of two different camera lenses either independently or jointly. Furthermore, a job listing also surfaced recently, highlighting Microsoft’s plans with Qualcomm’s recently launched Snapdragon 845 processor.

Now, we might have more evidence about the fold-able nature of Microsoft’s Surface Phone. Microsoft enthusiast Walking Cat dug around Microsoft’s recently launched Whiteboard application. He found references to a Journal app that points to two screens for the Surface Phone. Within the app there are references to ‘left’ and ‘right’ pages, hinting that we might get two different screens.

hmm… the Whiteboard app contains some references to the 'Journal' app, "left and right page" ? ?

"This is the accessibility title for the journal application which consists of a left and right page for content creation."

He goes on to add that, “for comparision, this is for the Whiteboard app itself: ‘This is the accessibility title for the whiteboard application which is a single large canvas for creation with a chrome toolbar at the bottom.’ This is interesting as now we’re able to completely differentiate between Whiteboard and Journal. Microsoft’s complete silence and delay on the Surface Phone can only mean one of two things. Either Redmond’s working on something big, or there’s no device at all.

Right now, both the options seem equally plausible, with only a sliver of differentiation. Since the amount of concrete information available for the Surface Phone is scarce, all of this just might be warm air. At the other hand, the few details that do emerge, particularly the recent ones are oddly specific. To combine the two, it’s highly likely that Microsoft’s working on a prototype right now. After all, the Surface Pro lineup surfaced well in advance on the rumor mill. The Surface Book on the other hand was nearly a complete surprise. Thoughts? Let us know what you think in the comments section below and stay tuned. We’ll keep you updated on the latest.